Why
by SlayerChic503
Summary: AH/AU Bella is scarred beyond belief by life and the death of her mother and can't understand why all of this has happened to her. Edward lost his parents at 10, and wasn't found by Esme and Carlisle till his was 12,and now he refuses to let the world in


AN: Hello fellow fanfictioners. This is my first try at Twilight fanfiction. I've written on the site in the past, but I never pictured myself writing for Twilight. However, here I am regardless, all because I couldn't get this one line out of my head. So I decided to write it down and develop the circumstances from there. I appreciate any questions, comments, criticisms, etc. I've tried to stay as faithful to the spirit of the characters that Stephenie Meyer gave to us to play with! I just wanted to get down a snippet of the story to start off with, and then when I have a bit more time, I'll hack out the first real chapter. I apologize for the brevity; I know it irks me when a new interesting story comes out with a teeny tiny teaser of what's to come. Oh well… so here goes!!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing and pay homage to the genius that is Stephenie Meyer and the beautiful world she created.

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Charlie trudged in to the station. He hated being called in in the middle of the night, but unfortunately it comes with the territory of being chief. His deputies were at the scene of a murder handling the crime scene analysis and taking statements of the neighbors and any possible witnesses. The only reason he wasn't at the scene with them was sitting in front of him rocking back and forth in a chair next to one of the deputies' desks. Isabella Dwyer. Daughter of the deceased Renee Murphy and felon James Dwyer. Charlie couldn't believe it when he heard the name of the victim on the phone, and the witness sitting in his police station waiting to be questioned. Charlie remembered the carefree and fun loving Renee Murphy from high school, she was gorgeous and Charlie had loved her. Charlie and Renee had been friends in the sense that they had grown up together in a small community where everyone knew everyone and all the kids hung out together for lack of anything better to do. Charlie was still screwing up the courage to ask out Renee when James Dwyer moved to Forks with his military family, and immediately all of the girls, including Renee, wanted to date him. Charlie watched as the woman he loved, love someone else. After graduation, James and Renee went to the local community college, got married, and had Bella, which is when Charlie lost track of them. He knew they lived in town, but didn't really keep tabs on them as he joined the Forks police force and continued living his life.

Shaking himself out of his trip down memory lane, he started towards the frightened girl, determined to figure out just what exactly happened. When he got closer, Isabella looked up at him, and Charlie couldn't believe how much this girl looked like her mother; deep brown eyes that seemed to go forever and beckoned you in to investigate their hidden depths, long brown hair with a slight curl, and perfectly pale porcelain skin that was predictable of a Forks resident. The amount of pain and sadness he saw in this girl's eye forced Charlie to take a step back. Despair seemed to roll off the girl in enormous waves. Slowly, he sat himself down in the adjacent chair, and Isabella's eyes followed him as he sat, she was jumping at every sound in the small Sheriff's station. As soon as he was sitting, Isabella averted her eyes back to her hands clutched in her lap.

Grabbing a nearby pad he started what he assumed would be the delicate task of extracting any information of the clearly traumatized girl in front of him, "Hello Isabella. I'm Chief Swan, but you can call me Charlie."

Before Charlie could ask a question she interrupted him, "Bella. Call me Bella."

"Okay, Bella. Can you start by telling me what happened tonight? Anything you can tell me will help." Charlie spoke softly to her, knowing that the smallest thing could upset her further.

Starting to rock back and forth again, Bella said, "It was a normal night. I went to bed around 9:30 because I have school in the morning. Around 1 I was woken up by my father. Something was wrong, more wrong than usual. He was drunk and started yelling, which mom heard. She came in to my room to sto… see what was the matter and maybe calm him down. Mom got my father to go back out in to the living room where I heard the fighting getting louder." Bella was staring straight ahead as if she were back in her house, and her voice had taken on a robotic quality, "It was so much louder than usual" she whispered, "I got up and went to my door to look, even though I knew I shouldn't. My father was screaming at mom, and then he hit her. She begged him to stop… but this time he was too drunk to hear her. He just kept hitting her. Then he was gone. He just left her there. She didn't get up… I was so scared, she usually got up before long." Tears were silently streaming down her face, but she didn't notice, she didn't notice anything going on around her now.

Charlie was livid. He was sure that she didn't mean to say as much as she did, but she was at a point of near zombie status. She was replaying the night's events in her mind, and they just happened to be coming out through her mouth. Recognizing the extent of the trauma to this 16-year-old girl, Charlie decided that talking to her anymore tonight would probably do more harm than good. Closing the pad, Charlie reached out to touch Bella's shoulder to bring her gaze back to the present and to him, he noticed when she flinched, "Bella. I'm going to have one of my guys take you to the hospital. I want to make sure that you're alright. Don't worry; we're going to find James. He'll never hurt you again."

Bella just nodded, but didn't watch him as Charlie got up to talk to Deputy Talbot, "I want you to take Bella here to the hospital. Make sure the staff knows they need to do a psych eval, as well as a physical. She's clearly been abused. " Deputy Talbot nodded and went over to collect the pieces of what used to be Bella Dwyer.

Following the exit of Talbot and Bella, Charlie saw Deputy Armstrong walk in, fresh from the crime scene, "Armstrong. What leads do we have on the location of James Dwyer?"

"Not much Chief Swan. The car was missing, we got the plate and VIN number from insurance papers in the house, but other than that we got nothing." Armstrong reported.

"Damnit!" Charlie growled and punched the nearest wall; taking a breath he closed his eyes and collected himself, "Alright, thanks. I'm headed to the scene. Call me if you finding anything else."

Armstrong nodded, stunned, as he watched the Chief walk out to his cruiser. He'd been with the department for 6 years and never once had he seen the Chief lose his cool like that.

~Two Days Later~

Charlie sighed and rubbed his face as he walked in to Forks hospital. He was frustrated and exhausted. There had been no great leads on the whereabouts of James Dwyer. None of his credit cards had been used since the incident, and no one had reported seeing his car in the nearby towns.

Charlie was here again to see Bella Dwyer, hoping that she had improved any since his last visit. He had visited yesterday and had seen the same girl from his station, sitting in a chair staring in to nowhere, clearly seeing something else than everyone around her. He had talked to her doctor, Dr. Cullen, then to try and gain a medical perspective as to how Bella was…

{_Flashback_}

"Ah Chief Swan. Horrible circumstances in which we see each other again." Dr. Carlisle Cullen extended his hand to the Chief of Forks police.

Charlie grunted and shook the doctor's hand, "How is she?" he asked gesturing towards the room Bella was in.

Carlisle shook his head, "Physically, there are no recent wounds, except a little bruising on her legs and wrists. We did some x-rays and found a substantial amount of old breaks and scar tissue. Psychologically, well it's not good. Right now she's in near catatonia. She responds when asked a direct question, but even then it's a bare bones minimum. Clearly there's physical abuse, and judging by what little information we've gotten so far and her unconscious reactions to men I'd say mental abuse as well. However there is no evidence of sexual abuse, thankfully. That in there is a very broken girl."

Charlie nodded, horrified at what the doctor was telling him, but then he had suspected as much in the one conversation he had had with her. "What'll happen to her now?" Charlie asked.

Carlisle sighed, "Well, we've call Child Protective Services, but my best guess is foster care as there don't appear to be any immediate relatives."

{_End Flashback_}

Charlie had been mulling over what Dr. Cullen had said ever since. Charlie looked at that poor girl and all he could see was the love he bore for her mother. After he left the hospital yesterday, he went and spoke with CPS. He had already made his mind up about fostering Bella Dwyer. He was determined that this little girl not suffer anymore than she clearly already had. He had talked it over with his foster son Emmett of course, to make sure Emmet would be alright with it. Charlie had been fostering Emmett since the boy was 12 and his father had been put away for neglect and embezzling.

Charlie stepped out of the elevator on the 3rd floor of the hospital and found Dr. Cullen writing on a chart at the nurse's station, "Hey Doc. How's Bella today? Any improvement?"

Carlisle turned to Charlie after making a final note on the chart, "Actually yes. There have been minor improvements. Bella is now talking a little more after multiple sessions with a psychologist, although they've only begun to scratch the surface of what's happened to her. She's eating more, and doesn't have that glazed look anymore. She seems to come out of the self-imposed coma."

The corners of Charlie's mouth lifted slightly, "Good. That's good. Well, is it possible I could talk to her?"

Carlisle nodded, "Of course," he led Charlie towards her room, "although I caution you, you probably won't get much if you try to ask her about what happened to her that night or even before. We've noticed that she shuts down when that's brought up."

Charlie nodded, "Got it." He pushed the door to Bella's room open slowly and walked in. Bella was on her bed flipping absent-mindedly through TV channels. Charlie cleared his throat softly to get her attention, "Hello Bella. It's me Charlie. How are you today?"

Bella turned to look at the kind faced Chief of police, "Hello Chief Swan. I'm fine thank you."

"Please, call me Charlie." Bella nodded and waited for him to continue, "I came to talk to you about something. First, I wanted you to know that there haven't been any developments in the search for James Dwyer," Charlie wouldn't dignify the man by calling him her father, "but we will find him." Bella continued to look at the Chief, knowing there was more, "Also, after speaking with Dr. Cullen, and CPS, with no immediate relatives, and instead of going in to group foster care… well if you like, I'd like for you to come live with me and my son Emmett."

Bella was very confused. Yes she knew of Chief Swan before all of this, but only in passing. Why all of a sudden was he offering to let her live with him and his son Emmett who she also knew from school, but once again merely in passing. She frowned, "Why?"

"I'm sorry?" Charlie shifted uncomfortably.

"Why are you offering me a place to live with you?" She was looking intently at this man she barely knew and wondering if there was a catch.

Charlie cleared his throat again and broke their eye contact, finding the floor incredibly fascinating, "Well, I knew your mother, way back in high school. We were friends, and I… I, well I loved her. Also I don't feel like it's safe for you to be living in a group home while James is still out there."

Bella continued to stare at Charlie while he steadfastly looked at the floor, visibly uncomfortable with expressing this long buried emotion.

Bella thought about it. She did prefer living in a home, instead of foster care, and she could accept that the Chief wouldn't lie about something like being in love with her mother in high school. He seemed genuine in his desire to help her, and she didn't have anywhere else to go, "Okay."

Charlie's eye snapped to hers before looking away, "Uh… right, okay. So I'll make all the calls and arrangements. When they release you from the hospital, I'll, uh, take you to your house to gather the things you want to take with you." Charlie turned to leave, wanting to start immediately to make sure this transition was as smooth as possible.

"Oh, and Charlie," Bella called softly, he turned with his hand on the knob, "thank you."

Charlie nodded once and left the room.

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AN**: well there is it… hope you like it, it's just a little bit of background. Let me know what you think: good, bad, downright ugly.

I'll try and update soon. Hopefully my muse will stick around and make me write faster! Smooches!


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